There are still a number of hurdles to clear before he’s pitching on the big league team this year, much less contributing to a competitive 2023 Chicago Cubs team, but Adbert Alzolay has pitched in a baseball game.
It happened last night in Arizona, with Alzolay starting for the Complex League Cubs team there, where he’d been rehabbing. He was a little wild, but definitely effective:
Alzolay, 27, has been out since Spring Training with a lat strain, but still figures to be an important part of the Cubs’ 2023 pitching plans, if he can just get and stay healthy.
I was surprised to see that he was going three innings in his first outing (exact pitch counts aren’t available, but it looks like it was something in the 30 to 40 pitch range), which means he’s being ramped up right out of the gate to go multiple innings if and when he returns to the big leagues. I wouldn’t *think* they would have Alzolay make big league starts this year, but we know that his best role with the Cubs in 2023 might be multi-inning/swing work, so a multi-inning appearance or two is probably the target.
Actually getting there remains an open question. If Alzolay looked and felt good after that appearance, it’s likely he’ll head to a lower-level full-season affiliate for his next appearance this weekend. From there, you figure another, say, two appearances before being in a place to come back to the big leagues? What’s making this timeline-projecting a little trickier is the role question. If he’s making “starts,” then he’s going to need the full five days of rest between appearances, instead of pitching in relief every three days or so.
In any case, without any setbacks, I do think it looks like we would see Alzolay “ready” to pitch in the big leagues before the season ends on October 5. How much time is left depends on the extent of this ramp up process. Either way, I’d love to see him back before the offseason, just so that it sets up a normal offseason for him, with a little extra information on how he might have been performing this year, developmentally-speaking.